Method for determining the tread depth of a vehicle pneumatic tire

Abstract

A method for determining the profile depth of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tire wherein the tread has a wear indicator. The wear indicator has an incision extending in the radial direction of the tire. The incision has a length visible on the tread and the length becomes shorter as wear increases. The wear indicator has two reference marks at a distance from each other. The distance is configured to remain constant and visible throughout the tread wear. A photo of the incision and the reference marks is generated via an application program of a mobile phone having a camera and an image screen. A current profile depth is calculated from the distance of the reference marks and the length of the incision via the application program. The current profile depth and/or a remaining profile depth are displayed until a minimal profile depth is reached on the screen.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for determining a profile depth of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tire, wherein the tread has a wear indicator provided therein and defines a tread outer side; the pneumatic vehicle tire defining a radial direction, the wear indicator having at least one incision extending in the radial direction; the incision having a length visible on the tread outer side and the length being configured to become shorter in a defined manner as wear increases; the wear indicator further having at least two reference marks being at a mutual distance from each other; said mutual distance being configured to remain constant and visible throughout the wear of the tread; the method comprising the steps of:
 generating a photo of the incision and the reference marks via an application program of a mobile phone having a camera and an image screen; 
 calculating a current profile depth from the mutual distance of the reference marks and the length of the incision via the application program; 
 displaying a positioning mask having at least two markers; 
 aligning the reference marks of the wear indicator with the markers of the positioning mask before or after generating the photo; and, 
 displaying at least one of the current profile depth and a remaining profile depth until a minimal profile depth is reached on the image screen. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the markers are one of circles, lines, + signs and other symbols. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the incision has ends; and, the reference marks on the tread are holes formed in the tread disposed at a short distance from the ends of the incision. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the incision has ends; and, the reference marks of the tread are short delimiting incisions in the tread and disposed at the ends of the incision. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the incision has outer ends arranged in alignment with each other; and, the reference marks of the tread are the outer ends of the incision. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of:
 displaying at least one measurement marking on the image screen, wherein the incision has an incision end and the measurement marking is positioned at the incision end of the photographed incision. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one measurement marking is configured as a line or an arrow and is manually or automatically brought into a measurement position. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of:
 transmitting the calculated profile depth to an external location via a data transfer. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the external location is an external server or data storage unit. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8 , wherein the calculated profile depth is transmitted via the internet or the mobile phone network. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application program is configured to store additional data. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein the additional data includes at least one of the time, date, vehicle related data and tire related data. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said mobile phone is a smart phone. 
     
     
       14. A method for determining a profile depth of a tread of a pneumatic vehicle tire via a computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage unit of a mobile phone having a camera and a screen, the tread of the pneumatic vehicle tire having a wear indicator provided therein and defining a tread outer side; the pneumatic vehicle tire defining a radial direction, the wear indicator having at least one incision extending in the radial direction; the incision having a visible length configured to become shorter in a defined manner as wear increases; the wear indicator further having two reference marks having a mutual distance from each other configured to remain constant and visible throughout the wear of the tread; the method comprising the steps of:
 providing on the screen a positioning mask having at least two markers to be aligned with the reference marks of the wear indicator; 
 generating an image of the incision with the markers aligned with the reference marks; 
 displaying a positioning mask having at least two markers; 
 aligning the reference marks of the wear indicator with the markers of the positioning mask before or after generating the image; 
 calculating a current profile depth from the length of the incision and incision characteristic data stored on the computer readable storage unit; and, 
 displaying at least one of the current profile depth and a remaining profile depth until a minimal profile depth is reached on the screen. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14  further comprising the step of automatically or manually aligning the markers of the positioning mask with the reference marks of the tread. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the markers are circles or lines. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 14  further comprising the step of storing at least one of date, time, vehicle data and tire data. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 14  further comprising transmitting the calculated current profile depth to an external location. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 14  further comprising transmitting the calculated current profile depth to an external server via the internet or a mobile phone network. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the camera is activated manually or automatically in the measurement position of the markers.